First Black Texan elected to statewide office dies at 73

Former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Morris Overstreet outside at the Thornberry Federal Building in Austin. Overstreet died Sunday in Houston. He was 73.Morris Overstreet, a trailblazing jurist and the first Black Texan elected to statewide office, died Sunday in Houston, according to

“Judge Overstreet was well-loved by the judges and staff who worked with him during his time at the Court,” read a statement from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Overstreet made history when he won a seat on the state’s highest criminal court bench in 1990. He served on the bench until 1998, authoring more thanBorn in 1950 in Amarillo, Overstreet grew up during the height of the 1960s Civil Rights movement, he told his hometown.

He later became a professor and director of the legal clinic at his alma mater, the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Douglas said Overstreet was a demanding professor, who sought to shape the next generation of lawyers.“The best way to change the world is to create disciples. You can’t do it on your own,” Douglas said. “You have to develop other people who have the same belief that you have and send them out into the world.

Colleagues said he had a friendly manner, diplomacy, a strong smile and sense of humor. He was a “good guy” with a positive spirit, who was “more than a lawyer for the firm — he was a friend,” Hance said. “Morris would be happy if people knew that he spent his life trying to make the world better,” Douglas said.will be held in Houston and Amarillo, according to an obituary. The Houston service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Brentwood Baptist Church. The service in Amarillo is scheduled for 11 a.m. March 16 at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where OverstreetTargeting El Paso charity that helps migrants, Ken Paxton opens new front in border fight.

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